


DOG DAYS ARE BACK

by Honmyo_Seagull



Category: All New Wolverine, Dark Wolverine (Comics), Wolverine (Comics), X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: Bullseye is remembered fondly which doesn't happen often I think, Dark Reign (Marvel) mentioned, Family Bonding, Gen, Laura still learns to be a sibling, M/M, Missing Scene, Siblings, Slice of Life, dog throwing, dogs live though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-15 06:02:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28933713
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Honmyo_Seagull/pseuds/Honmyo_Seagull
Summary: During the ORPHANS OF X arc, while spending more time with Gabby and Daken, Laura sometimes doesn't know if she feels more like the odd one out or the only sane one. Also, Bullseye is fondly remembered.
Relationships: Daken Akihiro & Gabrielle Kinney, Daken Akihiro & Laura Kinney, Daken Akihiro/Lester | Benjamin "Dex" Poindexter, Daken/Bullseye more hinted than anything else
Comments: 11
Kudos: 18





	DOG DAYS ARE BACK

**Author's Note:**

> During All New Wolverine #29. Reference to All New Wolverine #26 & Dark Reign: Sinister Spider-man #4.  
> I still wonder whether Tom Taylor wrote the dog-throwing on purpose or if his Daken muse whispered in his ear simply because it missed Lester…

*******

There’s nothing much to do but ride the residual pain and rest (even though Laura feels her frustration rise with every hour of inactivity). The quiet days after Muramasa’s ritual are illuminating, though. They’re secluded in their little room, their little bubble, the three of them, and it’s the longest uninterrupted time she has ever spent with her kinda brother and kinda sister.

There’s a luminous levity in Gabby and a dark gravity to Daken, which curiously mesh, and Laura sometimes doesn’t know if she feels more like the odd one out or the only sane one.

Gabby has _no_ tact. One day she asks what _exactly_ happened to Daken after the Orphans of X took him and cut his arm, these few days they had him. Daken has _no_ filter. He tells her. In graphic details. As if none of this mattered, as if none of this happened to him. The detachment from his own pain is a little bit unnerving.

Megan and her mother just choose to discreetly abscond when details of what was done to Daken start to get a little bit too real, a little too much for them. Neither Gabby nor Daken notices. Laura would like to leave the room as well, only she would have to crawl, she’s that weak. Not really an option to remain unnoticed. She is still not over the episode of the torture her brother endured (maybe it taps too close to home, too close to nightmares and memories over the years, maybe she is still raw from the ritual… Whatever.)

She wants the _tale_ to stop. But Gabby is spellbound. And Daken is a fantastic storyteller (in the horror genre, mind, but still). When Laura thinks she can’t take it anymore, will snap at her brother to shut up or actually cry (which isn’t like her but becomes a distinct possibility) or both, the story takes another turn with Daken’s escape. The utter strangeness of his flight from the little suburban house shines with black humour.

“… And then I threw the dog through the car window,” Daken says, recounting his carjacking.

Laura snorts, she must have misheard. It’s the tiniest bit hysterical.

“A dog?” she asks.

“You threw the dog? No, you didn’t!” Gabby intervenes, squeezing on her chest Jonathan who bears the treatment stoically. _This_ is the point when horror enters her eyes. After _all_ she has heard. That too is worrying. Laura doesn’t know how to feel about it either.

“I thought I had told that already when I found you. Yes, a dog,” their brother quietly acknowledges. “I only took a page from Lester’s book, actually.” The affection in his voice is surprising.

“Who is Lester?” There’s a tiny frown on Gabby’s nose. It’s clear she already doesn’t like this Lester who mistreats animals so.

“Ha… Lester was a… co-worker of mine. Our boss Normie-Stormie wanted us to deal with a pesky big black parasite. Resourceful man, Lester. Liked to show off to me. With, hm, improbable feats. Said he could hit the big spider thing with a poodle. It would be _fun._ Gentlemanly asked me which eye he should aim at. He scored, of course. The animal was actually imbedded in Venom’s eye socket.” It sounds like a fond memory.

“Yew!” This time, all of Gabby’s face is scrunched in distaste. Laura has to side with her in this case.

But, wait. Daken seems to refer to his time with Osborn’s dark avengers, and Laura can add two and two… She sits up on her futon in surprise.

“Bullseye? Your friend is Bullseye?” _Bullseye’s name is Lester?_

Laura will deny till her very end that her words were kind of… squeaked.

“Well, yes,” her brother says with a hint of sauciness impossible to miss, though. “He was my partner.”

“In crime,” Laura sullenly mutters. But she’s pretty sure she doesn’t want to know. She has learned when to fold and that having Daken in her life means she’ll have to overlook a few things, and unlike Logan it’s a sacrifice she’s willing to make. In spite of the headaches.

“I got thrown into a building that day so I missed a few things afterwards, but from up there I saw Lester knocked unconscious and then the imbecile creature yanked the dog off its face. It was _still_ yapping.”

Gabby’s audible sigh of relief brings the tiniest smile to her brother’s face.

“Lester was sorely disappointed to learn later that the dog lived. Performance anxiety, perhaps,” Daken adds, totally deadpan.

His eyes _shine_ , though.

Laura resolutely ignores the innuendo.

Gabby delightfully laughs, oblivious; it rings like the little glass bells of the stone garden in the breeze.

Something in Laura suddenly unclenches.

Her family is here, is safe. Her head falls back on her pillow. When she closes her eyes, she feels a hand on her forehead.

“You look tired. Everything is fine, for now. Sleep.” Daken’s voice is a murmur.

She can smell a hint of pheromones in the air, it feels calming and tastes sweet and soothing and tender. She chooses not to call Daken on it. And to just let go.

***** THE END *****


End file.
